You Should be Baking Your Bacon, Here’s How

We love using a cooling rack that fits inside a rimmed baking sheet for this. If you don’t have a cooking rack that will fit inside a baking sheet, just line the baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and place the bacon slices directly onto the foil (make sure they are in one layer). The fat won’t drip away from the bacon, but it will crisp up nicely anyway.

Depending on what you love, baking bacon leaves room for adding extra flavor to the bacon. Here are three favorites:

For peppered bacon, grind fresh black pepper (we prefer a course grind) all over the bacon slices before or towards the end of baking.

For maple baked bacon, bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from the oven. Brush maple syrup onto the bacon slices then place back into the oven for another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

For honey sriracha bacon, bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from the oven. Brush honey and sriracha onto the bacon slices then place back into the oven for another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Use up leftover bacon by adding it to this Easy Broccoli Salad! Crisp, green broccoli is tossed with bacon, cranberries, red onion and a zesty dressing.

Recipe updated, originally posted October 2011. Since posting this in 2011, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick video. – Adam and Joanne

How to Bake Bacon Perfectly Every Time

PREP 5mins

COOK 15mins

TOTAL 20mins

To bake bacon, you’ll need to start with a hot oven. If you have one, use a metal (oven-safe) rack inserted inside a baking sheet so that the bacon sits on top of the rack and any fat drains underneath. We prefer to use thick cut bacon (1/8-inch thick), which usually means there are 12 to 14 slices per pound.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

You Will Need

1 pound bacon, preferably thick cut

Directions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. If you’re cooking multiple sheets of bacon, position one oven rack in the lower third of the oven and the second rack in the top third of the oven.

Arrange bacon slices onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper. If you have one that fits, place a rack inside the baking sheet then arrange the bacon slices in one layer on top. Season with fresh ground pepper.

Bake until the bacon is golden brown and crispy, 12 to 20 minutes. The exact baking time will depend on the how thick your bacon is and how crisp you like it. Keep an eye on the bacon while it bakes — we like to check around 8 minutes and then every minute or two after until it is done.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

Thin cut / Lean Bacon: If you have very thin cuts of bacon or if it is lean, you may not need to use the rack. Simply lining them up on the baking sheet should suffice. Thicker cuts of bacon benefit from the rack since it lifts them up and away from the fat, helping them render more fat and become crisp.

For peppered bacon, grind fresh black pepper (we prefer a course grind) all over the bacon slices before or towards the end of baking.

For maple baked bacon, bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from the oven. Brush maple syrup onto the bacon slices then place back into the oven for another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Watch for over-browning of the maple. It goes from caramelized to dark brown quickly.

For honey sriracha bacon, bake for 12-15 minutes and remove from the oven. Brush honey and sriracha onto the bacon slices then place back into the oven for another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Watch for over-browning of the honey. It goes from caramelized to dark brown quickly.

Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates and assumes about 14 slices of bacon equals 1 pound. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Over the years, I’ve cooked bacon every way possible. Not sure why some cooks prefer the oven over the microwave? One thing is for sure, fresh bacon is built for the microwave. It has a high fat and water content and it is thin, so it cooks up crisp and tasty.

Not to be dense but… I ended up with so much grease in the baking sheet that there was no way of safely removing it from the oven until it completely cooled down. Any suggestions? PS: The bacon itself did rule, once I finally got it out an hour later.

Eliza, discarding the bacon grease is best done with lining the bottom of the rimmed sheet with aluminum foil. And yes, you need to let it cool to a safe temperature before you gather it up and discard it (or save it). IMHO, baking your bacon is the way to go. It’s pretty foolproof. Ideally, you should have another dish, bread, French toast to pop in the oven to take advantage of the hot oven, but it somewhat minor.

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